and as the plane descended over the city, residents ran out to take photos. captain tad wrona had spent the last hour and 20 minutes trying to lower the wide body 767's landing gear. all of its wheels and braking system, but to no avail and he had no choice, but to belly flop the planes with the engines acting like the runners of a sled on to a concrete runway. as you can see in this actual video shot inside the cabin, in the final moments, the passengers were ready for the worst. air traffic controllers wished the captain good luck and in the last few seconds, he turned to his co-pilot just in case. >> i said to my first officer, i am happy that we are together, and i said thank you, and we shake hands. i thank you. >> like the other passengers, greg cohen had his head between his legs. >> what were the final instructions before landing? praying to god that everything was going to be okay and i'm just saying to myself. okay. get ready. get ready. get ready. you know? bracing for impact. >> and then it happened. flight 16 touched down at more than 140 miles a